Meeting Pandora
by Nyx of Wolves
Summary: The daughter of the priestess of the Highlanders, a group of people who live in the small mountain range right above Starkhaven. She was sent by her mother to learn more about the world around them. But was ambushed and left to die. Hawke and his friends find her in a ditch and nurse her back to health. She quickly becomes friends with Sebastain and a understandment with Fenris.
1. A woman in a ditch

Bioware_ owns the characters, I just twisted it a bit and added my own. There are something's that are the same but I decided to change it up a bit hope you enjoy_

_A new character is added to the lot, a woman by the name of Pandora who came from the mountain range right outside of Starkhaven, as Sebastian puts it, she is a Highlander (from the Scottish I know, but it makes things a lot easier, for example, Antivan; Spanish, Orlias; French, and so on…) I would really like your reviews to make me a better writer Thank you!_

* * *

**Meeting Pandora**

"Are you an Andrastain, Fenris?" Sebastain asked as Hawke, Fenris, Verric, and himself walked along the Wounded Coast.

Hawke almost stopped in his tracks when he heard the words come out of the exiled prince's mouth.

It took Fenris a minute to answer. "If I say no, wil you attempt to convert me?" Verric opened his mouth to pipe in but Hawke shook his head. He knew where this was going.

"Many elves believe in the Maker, I only ask because I wonder if your experiences…soured your faith." Hawke let out a small sigh, here we go again with the preacher talk…Hawke wondered if he was the only one who felt the earge to stuff a piece of cloth down Choir Boy's throat. He took a glance at Verric and almost bursted out laughing. Verric was watching them intently as if waiting for Fenris to take a swing at Sebastain and finally finding the off button, which only Isabela has seemed to press a few times…and that was because of well…she was Isabela and always had something to make someone go quiet, even Choir Boy.

"My faith was never strong. It's difficult for a slave to have faith in someone who abandonded them." Fenris said in a serious tone.

"The Maker didn't enslave you Fenris." Sebastian said in an equal tone.

"He didn't help me escape much either." Fenris retorted.

Hawke sighed and looked around, something, anything to distract them.

"And yet you stand here free. Perhaps he helped you more than you think." Sebastain said.

Before Fenris could reply, Hawke spoke up.

"Sebastain, do you think you could hit that target over there?" He pointed north of them. On the lower beach there was a shield that was mostly covered in sand and was behind a pile of rocks.

Sebastain smiled. "Testing my skill again Hawke?" He said teasingly.

"Hawke look!" Verric said pointed to a ditch that was not far from them. Hawke quickly turned that way and saw a woman with long red hair laying face down in a ditch. The four of them quickly ran off to see if they could aid her.

* * *

Hawke reached the woman before the others. He quickly looked over her body to see any open wounds. Nothing, other than the cut on her head. He turned to Sebastain.

"You and Verric look around and see if you can find anything that may lead to why she was here." Hawke turned to Fenris, "Your with me. I need you to hold her head still as I try to heal it." Fenris nodded at the command; Verric smiled at the sudden change in Hawke. From the funny and laid back man from just a few minutes ago to the damanding fearless leader.

Fenris leaned down to pick up the woman who felt light in his arms, she was small for a human female.

He quickly but gently set the woman on a pile of grass so that Hawke could get to work healing her head. Fenris brushed long red curls away from the wound as Hawkes hand glowed a light blue.

"Damn!" Both men heard Verric say about ten minutes later. Fenris looked up to see Verric and Sebastain run towards them. "We found nothing around here, not even a sign of struggle. Which means that either she is a noblewoman who cant put up a fight or she was hit and knocked out before they got here."

Sebastain's eyes widened as he looked down at the woman. _No...it couldnt be..._

He saw a pendent around her neck with a sapphire blue stone, and burnt into the stone was a bow and cresent moon, and tracing the moon was a line of gold. "Oh Maker..."

Hawke, Fenris, and Verric turned towards him. They noticed what he was staring at.

"Do you recognize her Sebastian?" Verric asked. Hawke turned to begin working on her head again.

"Not herself no...but the pendent, her clan...All of Starkhaven knows who they are. They call themselves the Highlanders; they live in the small moutain range right above Starkhaven. Most people call them barbarians. The bow represents that she is a archer, and the cresent moon represnets that she is the daughter of the priestess, and the gold tracing means that she is a mage."

The three men look back at the woman. Fenris had a confused look on his face. "How could she be a archer and a mage?" He asked, looking back up at Sebastain.

"Archmage, a mage trained in arcane and weapons...the art was abandoned centeries ago...the only ones who kept it alive are the Highlanders." He said, not looking away from the woman. He hasnt seen a Highlander, let alone one of their priestess' this far away form the mountains.

Hawke stopped working on her head and bent to pick her up. "Fenris, do you mind if we have her stay at your mansion until she is fully healed? I dont want news of her presense to spread." Fenris nodded and followed Hawke and the others back to Kirkwall.


	2. Waking

_I know that some of the chapters are going to be a little short. This chapter gets a little interesting when Pandora wakes in a strange place and a man that she does not know hovering above her, and i used google's gaelic, it may not be correct, but its the best i can do, the english terms will be at the bottom... it has been a few years since i have been to scotland and i dont remember the language of my grandmother...Please Review!_

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Sebastain looked down at the woman who laid in the bed in front of him. Fenris sat in a chair on his left. Hawke stood by the fire.

"So just by her necklace you could tell where she is from, what her line is, what runs in her blood, and the weapon she uses?" Fenris asked and looked once again at the necklace around her throat.

"Aye; and that is how the templars in Starkhaven knew which mages to bring in. If they were from the Highlander clan then they were not to be touched." Sebastian said and looked at Fenris. Merrill came walking in and bounced over to Hawke.

"Pandora." She said. Sebastain and Fenris turned her way.

"What?" They both asked at the same time.

"Her name is Pandora, it is inscribed on the back of it...I noticed it when i um..." Merrill blushed.

When they came through the doors of Fenris' mansion Verric was sent by Hawke to get the closest female in their group, which at the time was Merrill, to come to the mansion to help their new guest out of her her armor and under the blanket.

"But I also noticed somehting else." She said and looked at Fenris; as if it was directed to him and only him.

"What is it blood mage?" He said in a low tone.

Merrill blushed again. "She also has lyrium burned into her skin, same as you Fenris...but hers...is different. It is only on her hip and going up her side and rib cage, and it is shapped as Nightshade and cresent moons."

Hawke walked up behind Merrill and wrapped his arm around her shoulder. He looked at Fenris.

"Do you know about this Sebastain?" Hawke asked and looked at him.

Sebastain shook his head. "I dont know anything about it. The Highlanders are not willing to share a lot of their secrets with just anyone. The only ones who knew a lot about them was father. He was facinated by their ways; even if they didnt believe in the Maker."

"What do they believe in?" Merrill asked. She seemed facinated by what she heard from Sebastain, Hawke smiled proudly at the elf.

"They believe in the Goddess, all of Starkhaven used to be that way until Andraste came to us. The Highlanders refused to change their beliefs and went to the mountain range. Now they are in a clan instead of a city." Sebastain says as he remembered the history lessons him and his brothers had to sit through in thier youth.

Eveyone heard the door close and became silent.

"Hawke!" Anders called from down below. If Hawke wasnt at his estate, then he was at the Hanged Man, if he wasnt there then he was at Fenris' or on a job.

"Up here!" Hawke shouted back to his lover, he let go of Merrill's shoulders and went closer to the door.

Merrill went and looked closer at the woman named Pandora. Her skin was a creamy pale color...her hair the color of fire...Merrill couldnt wait to see the color of her eyes.

Anders walked in and paused..."Who is this?" He asked...he noticed that her head was bandaged. Ignoring everyone else Anders quickly walked over to her.

"Her name is Pandora; Hawke, Sebastain, Fenris, and Verric found her in a ditch along the Wounded Coast. When they came back into Kirkwall Verric was sent to fetch me..." Merrill said; she didnt move from the woman's side as Anders check her vital signs.

Anders glared at everyone in the room. "So instead of fetching me, you fetched the blood mage?" Merrill jerked back as if she was slapped. She should be used to the insults and glares that came from Fenris and Anders; but they always hurt.

"Dont you dare start Anders, you are not the only damn healer and the reason we got Merrill is becuase we needed her to strip and get the woman on the bed." Merrill smiled at Hawke, he has always been like a big brother to her.

Anders ignored them both. "Has she been uncouncious the whole time?" He asked.

Fenris spoke. "Yes."

* * *

Pandora slowly opened her eyes. _Where am I?_

She rubbed her head..."Ow..." Someone grabbed her hand.

"I wouldnt do that..." Pandora quickly looked at the man...she pulled her hand away and aimed for his jaw...

"Fuck!" he said and took a step back his hands flying to where she hit...She jumped out of the bed and realized she was in her small clothes, Pandora quickly snatched the blanket off the bed and wrapped it around her self.

Two more men came crashing in, a tall man in white armor and an elf with...lyirum burned into his skin. Like her.

Pandora looked back at the man she hit. His hands where held out to the others. "Its alright; I probally just startled her." He had a deep voice.

The man turned to her. "I am sorry, if i would have let you mess with the wound on your head; it would have reopened it. My name is Alexander Hawke, but everyone calls me Hawke." He motioned for the others to introduce themselves.

The elf spoke first. "My name is Fenris." His voice was deep, his tone and eyes guarded. This man went through hell, she could see it in the way he held himself.

The man in shiny armor spoke next. "My name is Sebastain..Vael..." My eyes widened at the accent, he was definetly from Starkhaven..wait...Sebastain Vael, the youngest of three, the last heir to the Starkhaven thrown, the one that was sent to the Chantry at the age of 13. Holy shit.

Pandora cleared her throat. "My name is Pandora, how did I get here." She looked at every one of them, her Highlander accent clear as day. Fenris and Sebastain looked at Hawke.

_He must lead them...they look at him with respect and they wait for him to explain what has happened instead of telling me themselves._

"We found you in a ditch on the Wounded Coast, and we brought you here to heal you. We dont know how you ended up there in the first place." He sat down in a chair by the fire. "And were hoping that once you regained consciousness, you could tell us what had happened."

Pandora sat back down on the bed trying to remember what happened, all of it was fuzzy. All she could remember was what they were after; her hand quickly goes to her side. "My pouch...where is me pouch?" Pandora almost screamed at them. The men look at each other.

She throws her hands in the air. "Caithfidh mé a bhfuil sé! Tá fuil in ann!*"

Sebastain speaks. "Blood?" Hawke looks at her.

She sighs. "Yes, an old demons blood, my mother gave me a vial of it before I left the mountains. She never told me what to use it for, other than saying that I will know when to...all I do know is the consequences." Hawke leans his head sideways.

"Consequences?" He asked, couriousity appeared in his eyes.

Pandora sighs. "Yes, if it is spilled on the ground then within three days the whole land will become unholy and baron. If someone drinks it then in a matter of minutes they become a demon themselves. And not a normal one that you come across everyday. These demons are..." she thinks. "as you Fereldens put it...the bitchy kind, where I come from we call them, Olc Ársa á** ."

Hawke smiles and thinks to himself; _I like her_.

"Do you know where you were headed?" He asks, changing the subject, by the way Fenris and Sebastain where standing, he could tell that they where uneasy.

Pandora began thinking. "I dont remember...I was in some warehouse running from someone, something. Then i came into an ambush, it was like they knew every move, every thought, every decision that I was going to make. But I do remember what they where after."

Hawke continue to look at her. "What?"

"The demon blood, please, hand me my pouch...I need to know if I still have it." Hawke nodded to Fenris. Fenris walked over to a pile and grabbed her pouch, he handed it to her.

Pandora quickly flipped through the contents of her bag; she sighed with relief and pulled out a small silver pendent that was attacted to a chain.

"Is that it?" Sebastain asked.

"Aye, and thank the Goddess for it. If someone got their hands on this and used it against people...it could lead to the end of any city and if used to right way...the end of the world."

"Why dont they have it then? They were able to capture you, so why is it still in your possession?" Fenris asked, suspision in his eyes.

"Well, an ansestor of mine spread a rumor about the blood a few centuries ago. She said that it was in a gold vial wrapped in silver snakes, and only with the High Priestess' blood will it open. Part of that rumor is true, the supply back in the Highlands is in that vial, but every generation, when the priestess' daughter turns 18, she is sent out into the world, when she turns 21 she has two options, she can return to the Highland's and when the time comes she shall become the High Priestess, or she can remain in the outside world. But, for example if is the only daughter or the youngest, she has no choice but to come back and take the right. Anyway, the nigh' before she leaves, the daughter is to go to the Chambers of Ole and collect a small portion of the blood." Pandora holds up the chain. "and she is to always keep it with her, and if she dies in the outside world, she is to be buried with it. I have two younger sisters, Angell and Alice, they are twins. So if I am to chose to stay, Angell would have to take the same path, and if she made the same decision, then Alice is to take the same path, but she has no choice but to return to the Highlands."

Everyone remained quiet as they processed the information. Hawke was the first to speak. "Well...Pandora, you were out for at least two days. We will leave you to get dressed and when you are ready, come downstairs and to the kitchen, we will have food for you. There is an outfit for you ontop of the dresser."

Pandora glanced at where he indecated. _A dress...hell no.._she thought. "Where is my armor?" She asked, she tried to sound polite.

Hawke chuckled. "It was damaged when we found you, so when we made sure you lived I took it to a friend to fix, he might even add some enchantment to it, knowing Sandel.."Pandora nodded. _So im stuck with the dress.._

Hawke stood and stretched, she could see the bags under his eyes realized that he didnt sleep much, if not at all, since he has been taking care of her. Sebastain and Fenris left the room, so it was only her and Hawke.

Pandora cleared her throat. "Thank you, Hawke, for saving my life. And I am in your debt. So, if you allow it, I will travel with you."

Hawke smiled. "It would be interesting to have you with us Pandora, so yes, i shall allow it." He said, she could see the laughter in his eyes.

He bowed sligtly and left the room. Pandora looked around, she was finally able to take in the condtion of the estate. Dust covering anything that hasnt been used, a few things broken and out of place...

Pandora slowly walked over to the dresser and let the blanket fall to the floor and began getting dressed..

* * *

_Caithfidh mé a bhfuil sé! Tá fuil in ann!" means; "I have to have it! There is blood in there."_

_Olc Ársa á means "Ancient evil being"_


End file.
